The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday unanimously passed along to the floor a resolution affirming U.S. support for Israel in the event Israel has to militarily take action to degrade Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. According to the text of the resolution on the U.S. Congress’ website, the goal of the resolution...

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Human rights groups and media outlets are calling renewed attention to the use of the helicopters and jets by the Syrian military. Syrian air assets have been critical in efforts by the Bashar al-Assad regime to limit rebel military gains — this week saw a new air offensive in the...

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A little-noticed 14-minute clip of Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad — pushed to YouTube by supporters of the Bashar al-Assad regime — underscores the broad but uneven efforts of pro-government elements to leverage social media. The YouTube video was published last week on YouTube on the accunt AmazingNews99, which hosts...

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Al Qaeda’s Iraqi wing is merging with an Islamist opposition group in Syria that the Washington Post describes as “the most aggressive and successful” of the rebel forces fighting in the country. The announcement of a formal merger between Al Qaeda in Iraq and the Syria-based Al Nusra Front was made in...

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The Syrian government has redeployed as many as 20,000 troops from areas around the country’s Golan Heights border with Israel. The troops are being moved closer to Damascus in what is the largest Syrian redeployment in 40 years. They’re leaving behind an increasingly chaotic power vacuum: “They [the Syrian government] have...

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Syria is lashing out at Turkey and Jordan, accusing both countries of providing material and logistical assistance to opposition forces seeking to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime. The accusation is more or less accurate inasmuch as Turkey and Jordan are assisting the rebels. Syria state television, citing reports in The New...

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Damascus’ 2,000-year-old Jobar Synagogue – one of the world’s oldest synagogues and Syria’s holiest Jewish site – has been burned to the ground and its contents looted. Responsibility for the destruction remains unclear, and both the Syrian regime and anti-government rebels on Sunday accused each other of destroying the building....

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Islamist elements in the Syrian opposition are increasingly at odds with more secular forces in the Free Syrian Army (FSA), setting the stage for a showdown that could happen after the Bashar al-Assad regime falls — or possibly before — but looks almost certain to happen in some form: These...

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Unconfirmed reports from Syrian rebels indicate that they may have successfully struck an Iranian airplane that was attempting to land at the Damascus airport and deliver arms to the Bashar al-Assad regime. Reuters recently reported that Iran has “significantly stepped up” military assistance to Syrian army. The main weapons routes...

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Israeli officials believe that chemical weapons were used yesterday in Syria for the first time in that country’s two-year conflict, with each side blaming the other for an attack that killed at least 25 people. Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons is thought to be the world’s largest, and last week IDF...

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